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Health Care Bill has Bonus for Trial Lawyers

Surprise!  The newly unveiled 1990 page health care bill contains a bonus for trial lawyers.  Is anyone really surprised by this?  The Democrats are heavily controlled by trial lawyers, so this is to be expected.  Of the 154 representatives that received over $10,000  from trial lawyers in 2008, only 5 were Republicans. We even have a Democrat President and First Lady who are lawyers.  From Big Government–

The health care bill recently unveiled by Speaker Nancy Pelosi is over 1,900 pages for a reason. It is much easier to dispense goodies to favored interest groups if they are surrounded by a lot of legislative legalese. For example, check out this juicy morsel to the trial lawyers (page 1431-1433 of the bill):

Section 2531, entitled “Medical Liability Alternatives,” establishes an incentive program for states to adopt and implement alternatives to medical liability litigation. [But]…… a state is not eligible for the incentive payments if that state puts a law on the books that limits attorneys’ fees or imposes caps on damages.

So, you can’t try to seek alternatives to lawsuits if you’ve actually done something to implement alternatives to lawsuits. Brilliant! The trial lawyers must be very happy today!

Texas enacted tort reform and put caps on medical liability lawsuits.  They have seen their medical costs decline as a result.  An additional 430,000 Texans have health insurance today as a result of tort reform. (For a complete analysis of tort reform in Texas check out this report from The Perryman Group).  Tort reform is an obvious step in creating more affordable health care, but this bill creates an incentive for states to keep the status quo and continue to let frivolous lawsuits drive up heath care costs.  It’s just another example proving that our politicians are no longer “for the people”.  Instead, they are for the highest bidder and whatever keeps them in power.  Is this the change that millions voted for in 2008?

Related posts:

1. Sorry, No Health Care for You part 1
2. What Gives Them the Right to Make Me Pay for Their Health Care?
3. How Will Obama’s Health Care Plan Lower Costs?
4. The Real Reason Democrats Want to Pass Health Care Reform

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